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Short thread.
For a couple of years now, since the first Salmond trouble, the GRA reform has been used as a cudgel to destabilise SNP leadership generally seen as "progressive" - by those who want to rock the boat/with their own ambitions.
For a couple of years now, since the first Salmond trouble, the GRA reform has been used as a cudgel to destabilise SNP leadership generally seen as "progressive" - by those who want to rock the boat/with their own ambitions.
I first wrote about this in May 2019 https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-independence/joanna-cherry-nows-not-time-snp-leadership-ambitions-laura-waddell-546764
Riling up anger at minorities for political ends is a nasty, nasty thing to do, but it is not new. It's what Farage did during Brexit - and he won.
Because Scotland is not as progressive as it would like to think, those stirring up suspicion of trans people and their allies were generally applauded by conservative commentators. Men with a history of opposing abortion joined in, were patted on head for "supporting women."
Women's groups, who have been operating on a self id basis for some time, generally supported it. But they were attacked, as was anyone else who supported it, by parliamentarians and members of the press. https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/gender-recognition-act-reform-views-these-womens-groups-may-surprise-you-laura-waddell-2447779
The only way to nip this in the bud would have been to... nip it in the bud. Take action against the parliamentarians who sit on twitter and rile up young lgbt people. Decry the scary, obsessive, anonymous accounts who did all the bandwagoning. From the very start.
But it has gotten to the point now where it is SO bad, and SO fractious, that the SNP has stuck their heads in the sands rather than tackling it. Walking right into the trap that was set.
Women who have heard their rights are at stake have panicked. But they should be far more worried by the anti-trans politicians willing to throw minorities under the bus. Those willing to cosy up to sleazes and anti-abortionists and online obsessives. They are not our allies.
(muting notifications on this now)
